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Silk Road Case: Prosecution Reads Alleged Transcript of DPR Arranging 5 Murders
New submitter BenBoy points out an article at Wired about the most recent developments in the trial of Ross Ulbricht, alleged to be the man behind the Silk Road digital black market, going by the alias Dread Pirate Roberts. The prosecution has now rested its case, but one of their last presentations was a series of communications between DPR and a supposed member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club in which he arranged for hitmen to kill five different people. Wired notes,
Ulbricht, who the prosecutors have sought to prove is that Dread Pirate Roberts, hasn't been charged with murder-for-hire in his Southern District of New York case, though he faces charges that include conspiracies to sell narcotics, launder money and more. (He does, however, face murder-for-hire charges in a separate case in Baltimore.) In fact, the prosecution admitted in court that the purported victims of the Silk Road killings were never found, and that Canadian police couldn't even locate records for anyone with their names. ... Even so, the prosecution took pains to read the entire conversation to the jury because it’s intended to show them the darkest side of the Silk Road’s short history.
If genuine, the transcript shows that members of the Hell's Angels organization are familiar with using encryption to shield their communications from law enforcement. Forbes has a detailed update on how the rest of the case has progressed, and Ars has a brief article on today's closing arguments.
From TFS: If genuine, the transcript shows that members of the Hell's Angels organization are familiar with using encryption to shield their communications from law enforcement.
Not really news, I seem to recall coming across mention of this (with regards to the Angels) back in the late 90's/early 00's. Not that criminals using codes or ciphers or various other means of obscuring or obfuscating their communications is exactly new in any form.
If someone tells you they are a hitman, that always means they are an undercover agent.
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
The prosecution has now rested its case
No, it rested yesterday. The defense rested today and closing statements have already been made.
If genuine, the transcript shows that members of the Hell's Angels organization are familiar with using encryption to shield their communications from law enforcement.
No it doesn't. Even if the transcript is genuine (there are no reasons to think it's not) we only know that someone suggested being a hells angels member.
There's a reason for presenting evidence even though there are no indications that anybody was killed as a result of the logged conversations (and money transfers) and this case not including a conspiracy to commit murder charge - it is to show that the DPR didn't hesitate to use violence to keep control of his criminal enterprise.
Say what you like about Hell's Angels, but they're clearly not uneducated. The emails are (so far as I can see) well composed, grammatically correct, use proper spelling, indeed they read as if a lawyer wrote them. I don't think many on /. would get past the Angel's written entrance exam (I wouldn't want to try the practical exam).
Nullius in verba
Even less surprising, considering that they're a registered corporation; with a big business in merchandising.
And most corporations use VPNs, etc.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11...
I'm curious, has anyone ran the conversations from FriendlyChemist and Redandwhite through one of those grammar analyzing programs to see the likelihood that they're the same person? It looks fairly likely that DPR may have been scammed by someone wholly unconnected to the trial. $650k is quite a lot to make just sending a few emails around.
Also it should be possible to trace both bitcoin wallets and see if there's any overlap between them.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Windows 10!
The transcript was a fascinating read. In my opinion it reveals two truths: Hell's Angels are just as professional and businesslike as the mob (or at least, how it used to be), and DPR seems to be living out a fantasy from the latest Scorsese film. "work him over" indeed. I wonder if Redandwhite was secretly ROTFL all the way to the bank. Still a shame that people lost their lives, no matter how sleezy they were.
But I've also read a fair bit of commentary (mostly from libertarian types who see some red flags about government taking Silk Road down), claiming the murder for hire claims are completely fabricated by the Feds, in order to get a stronger conviction.
That would seem to be a possibility worth considering, at the very least. (It's not too difficult to see some parallels in the lengths they've gone to, trying to punish Kim DotCom as severely as possible.)
Personally, I maintain that, really, the only big issue with Silk Road (both 1 and 2) was the effort made to create item categories that clearly proved the site operators knowingly/willingly facilitated transactions that would be illegal in the country they lived in. I rather like and support the idea of a big, anonymous marketplace -- but I think you have to approach such a thing so you're essentially a "common carrier". Nobody files charges against the phone company for providing a number to someone using it to make illegal drug deals, right? And nobody files charges against the mailman who actually delivers the illegal goods that someone purchases online. That's because we understand they're just doing a job of moving content around, and have no reasonable way to know what that content consists of.
When this weak sauce is all you can come up with for a defense, why, oh why, would you not plead out?
"I made the site, but I left (but came back just in time for the FBI to catch me.)" Yeah, that's really going to sway a jury.
USN Submarine Service, 1981-1991.
If you outlaw encryption, only outlaws will use encryption.
Everything from the trial just reinforces my first impressions that Ulbricht was attempting to operate a site for which he simply didn't have the skill set. The 'murder' plot was an incredibly obvious scam to separate him from his cash. I'm astonished that any reasonably intelligent person would be taken by it. His op security was appalling. If the might of the DEA, and whatever other three letter agencies they can rope in, is hunting you then you need to be a lot more careful than he was. Having a full local site backup on your bedside table? Using the same laptop you log in to your admin account for anything else? Stupid. Keeping a fucking diary? There are no words.
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
Has the government had anyone by the balls as the do Ulbricht, I don't think so. It just keeps getting worse for this guy. I'm pretty sure they'll probably throw some child-porn charges in there for good measure. This guy is fucked, fucked, fucked. And will get fucked (in prison)!
This Sig does not Exist.
you can't outlaw it cause how would secure games, and transactions occur..aha
and thus you would simply have "outlaws" in those companies doing stuff and less would be seen.